5 things that can go wrong while live streaming your event

We are in the age of Netflix where consumers are slowly moving away from watching prime time television to streaming videos anytime & anywhere. Content consumption happens on the move through multiple screens. While live music has been dominating  the streaming media space since the last decade, the consumption of streaming video is on the rise.

A research conducted with 4000+ live video streaming audience from 21 countries by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in association with OnDevice states that around 70% of the internet population watches digital video content through any connected device (smartphone / tablet / laptop / PC / connected TV) several times a day. Out of this, around 67% of them have watched some form of live-streamed content on any platform or device. This gives an overall view of the rising popularity of live streaming across geographies.

That being said, live streaming your own event or content comes with its own set of difficulties. There are so many things that can potentially go wrong. It gets much more complex especially if you are streaming from Asia pacific region. Let us have a look at the 5 top most issues that you can face.

[1] Uplink (or) upstream bandwidth

India ranks 112 out of the list countries by average internet connection speed, according to the COO of Ookla. An average Indian consumer receives about 9.14 Mbps speed which is just above the global average and is still sufficient for live streaming. For newbies, Internet bandwidth is a simplified term used to measure the rate of data transfer over a wired or wireless network from one point to another in a given amount of time. The amount of data packets that can be sent over a network is directly proportional to the bandwidth. This is very much similar to a water pipe. Bigger the water pipe, more water can flow through it. Higher the bandwidth, more data can flow through it.

In the context of live streaming, live digital video needs to be sent seamlessly as data packets. Any issues with the upstream bandwidth will affect the end-user and the viewing experience. A minimum of 4 Mbps is essential to stream a standard definition video and at least 10 Mbps for Full HD video streaming.  To avoid all uplink issues, it’s advisable to have a dedicated bandwidth specifically for lives treaming purposes. Having a dedicated bandwidth helps with the complete bandwidth available for uplink and hence helps avoid any streaming issues.

[2] Video & Audio quality

Another important thing that can lead to streaming failure is the video and audio bit rates. Bit rate is the number of bits that are processed and pushed in to the network. As a rule of thumb, the quality of the video and audio is directly proportional to the bitrate. Higher the bitrate, better the video and audio quality. You can encode the video at a constant bit rate (CBR) or variable bit rate (VBR). Considering the scope of the article, let us consider constant bit rate (CBR). In a CBR encoding, the bitrate is maintained constant throughout the video regardless of the complexity of the segment. For example, a video interview with one person standing and talking against a plain background is much simpler to encode than a video of a laser show at an event or a natural landscape. So, CBR encoding - processes and encodes all parts of the video regardless of the complexity involved in different parts. Having said that, it is important that the bit rate should be carefully monitored and included based on the bandwidth. Any glitches in the bitrate, your streaming will end up buffering for the end user.

Most of the streaming software uses adaptive bit rates that are intelligent enough to automatically monitor and adapt the bit rate of video and audio based on available bandwidth. Youtube, Facebook, Wirecast, livestream etc., ensures that the encoding is monitored and adjusted according the bandwidth. You don’t have to worry about manually changing the bitrate or resolution. A skilled video streaming expert does a complete dry run before the event to test the streaming quality for various bitrate settings. But for newbies, it’s very essential that they know what they are getting into and ensure that the streaming quality is tested beforehand.

[3] Power supply

Power fluctuations, power outage and flickering are very common in South Asia especially in countries like India. In case the streaming laptops or PC, the cameras, lighting equipment, the audio equipment, network and all the other AV related hardware are connected to raw power, then in case of power outage, the whole setup will go offline. It takes several minutes to get them all back online and continue with the event and the stream. Given the limited attention span, the end user might get restless and leave the stream. So, it’s important that the AV and live-streaming setup is either connected to uninterrupted power supply (UPS) or to a generator. This helps ensure smooth and seamless event execution and live streaming.

[4] Noise

In continuation with power supply, the issue of noise occurs in both video and audio. But, noise in audio is more prevalent.

 The most common reason is due to improper ground loop. Regardless of the power source, the failure to provide proper grounding loop leads to static noise in audio. In case of two or more equipment being grounded through a single path, the shorts and static noise appears in the audio. As the name indicates, static noise is going to be static throughout. If you have attended events in tier 2 or tier 3 cities in India, you might have heard the hum or buzzing noise throughout the event. This is primarily due to the ground loop.

Another type of noise is called distortion. This occurs when there is too much power resulting in the audio equipment or speakers maxing out. Unlike noise due to ground loops and max power which is mostly static, noise from electrical, electromagnetic or any other communication device would be variable. The noise will come and go, depending on changes in incoming or outgoing signals. You might have heard a variable interference noise when you get an incoming or outgoing mobile call while standing near a microphone or a speaker. This is merely an interference and it fades off immediately once the source is moved away from the audio equipment. Noise can also occur in audio when there are lot of interconnections in wires connecting the audio equipment and speakers (or) when the capture card is connected directly to raw power without a spike buster.

The most common type of noise with video occurs due to low-lighting situations. The cinematographer might try hard to focus on whatever is happening on stage with low lighting - by increasing the ISO setting. This results in noise occurring in the video in the form of grains, especially in the regions where there is very minimal or no light. All these can be rectified by doing a proper dry-run before the event, as well as checking the stream beforehand.

[5] Issues with Server

Unlike the above four points, issues with the streaming server is something beyond your control. You might be using appropriate bit rate for encoding, having a superior upload bandwidth and ensured uninterrupted power supply. But still there are things that are beyond your control, as listed below.

• There may be a surge in internet traffic in the specific route that you are uploading your stream.
• Maybe you are using a common Wifi router that is clogged - instead of a dedicated LAN connection.
• There could be limitations with your ISP bandwidth or throttling.
• Lack of load balancer at the server-end, resulting in failure of the content delivery network (CDN).
• It could be an issue as simple as a faulty network hardware (LAN ports / switches / cables etc.).

If you are able to detect issues with the server or your CDN earlier, you can very well get in touch with your respective internet service provider or CDN service provider to report and resolve them. In case you anticipate anything happening in the middle of an event, you can have multiple channels streaming the same content through different ISP’s. Again, this can happen only when you have the adequate budget.

These are some of the prevalent issues with live streaming your own event. Being proactive in your approach - by testing the internal and external factors will ensure that the streaming is smooth and seamless. As I have already mentioned, testing the stream for various factors prior to the event will ensure that the risk is reduced during the live event.

Let me know your experiences.